Paula Orecklin, WPSD 2026

Hi, I’m Paula, and my leg hurts.

So, did you know, pain sucks?
Yeah, I know. Total surprise. One of the reasons it’s so important that patients share our experience. We know stuff.

The thing is, really, we do know a lot of things. We know what it’s like when your life suddenly narrows to such an extent that you’re not sure there’s even anything else left besides being a patient. Where just getting through the next day- the next hour- the next minute doesn’t feel like much of a certainty because everything hurts so badly, breathing feels hard. Where the whole world kind of fuzzes out because there isn’t anything left except pain.

I have Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. I twisted my ankle when I was in grade 8, and instead of the pain naturally subsiding, the pain just increased and increased. My parents took me to the urgent care, and they gave me crutches and said I’d be off of them within two weeks. I used crutches for the next four years, and it’s been a mix of wheelchairs and canes since then,

And by since then, I mean 25 long, long years, as of this past March.

For nine years now, beyond my medications, therapy, physio and distraction, and everything else, one of the major ways I cope with all of this is patient engagement. I’m able to make something constructive out of what is otherwise completely pointless suffering. Patients for Patient Safety Canada is one of the most important ones for me. We’re a group of patients who have been harmed by healthcare. We try to share our experiences in the hopes that no one else will suffer as we have.

Why I’m doing this, despite my lack of interest in social media, – is part of our campaign to observe World Patient Safety Day 2026. This year’s theme focuses on the safety of patients with chronic non-communicable diseases, NCDs. This is actually a very wide group of patients, including everything from asthma to pressure wounds to mental illness. The category includes allergies and most cancers, along with osteoporosis and quadriplegia.

And of course, chronic pain.

Noncommunicable diseases affect billions of people worldwide and account for around 43 million deaths annually, with the majority occurring in low- and middle-income countries. In Canada, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) or chronic diseases account for roughly 89% of all deaths (150,000 deaths/year), with cancer, heart disease, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes making up the vast majority of these fatalities.

One of the biggest issues of having an NCD is not just needing medical care throughout their life but finding care that’s integrated and has access to their patients’ medical history. It can be very dangerous to receive care that doesn’t take a history into account, especially with procedures, surgeries and medications already taken. Far too many places, including in my lovely home, Manitoba. Just having a digital record doesn’t necessarily mean that it connects to any others.

And we have to advocate for ourselves to get the care we so badly need. If we’re lucky, we have friends and family who can come with us to appointments and advocate for us. Otherwise, no matter how sick we are, we need to do it ourselves. It is a long, long road.

It’s hard. It sucks. And it’s our lives.

-Paula Orecklin